Zohar Eicha for 9th of Av

Lamentation 1:1
“אֵיכָה יָשְׁבָה בָדָד, הָעִיר רַבָּתִי עָם–הָיְתָה, כְּאַלְמָנָה; רַבָּתִי בַגּוֹיִם, שָׂרָתִי בַּמְּדִינוֹת–הָיְתָה, לָמַס”
“How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave.”
“בָּכוֹ תִבְכֶּה בַּלַּיְלָה, וְדִמְעָתָהּ עַל לֶחֱיָהּ–אֵין-לָהּ מְנַחֵם, מִכָּל-אֹהֲבֶיהָ: כָּל-רֵעֶיהָ בָּגְדוּ בָהּ, הָיוּ לָהּ לְאֹיְבִים”
“Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.”

“גָּלְתָה יְהוּדָה מֵעֹנִי, וּמֵרֹב עֲבֹדָה–הִיא יָשְׁבָה בַגּוֹיִם, לֹא מָצְאָה מָנוֹחַ; כָּל-רֹדְפֶיהָ הִשִּׂיגוּהָ, בֵּין הַמְּצָרִים”
“Judah has been led away into captivity, oppressed with cruel slavery. She lives among foreign nations and
has no place of rest. Her enemies have chased her down, and she has nowhere to turn”

Rabbi Pinchas opened and quoted (Jeremiah 31) “A voice is heard in Ramah (higher place), lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel (the matriarch) is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”.

When the Holy Temple was destroyed and burnt, a voice came upon the graves of the patriarchs and said: “Fathers, you are asleep and you don’t know about the sadness in the world. Your sons that you raised with pain and brought them into the great faith of the Holy one Bless be He, are dead and killed and went to exile among their enemies. Their hands are tied behind their backs, dying in hunger and their homes burnt. Where is your mercy? Where is your faith? Wake up, rise for them.

The patriarchs and matriarchs woke up and went to Moses. Told him: “Moses, the faithful Shepherd, Where is our children?” Where did you leave them? Moses woke up and went with them to Joshua. Moses spoke to him: “The Children of Israel, the sons of these fathers that the Holy one Bless Be He trusted me with them and I left them with you, where are they?”

Joshua answered saying: “Moses, our master, I left them in the Holy Land. I divided the land for them as I was ordered by you and left them each on his land and his destiny.

They all went to the Holy Land and found it destroyed and no sound was heard. They went into the Holy Temple and saw that it was burnt. They sat in mourning until the sound of their bitter cry reached the highest level in the sky and all the angels in the higher levels cried with them.

The Holy One awakened and came to them. He found them bitterly crying in the dust of the Holy Temple and said to them: “Beloved of my soul, what are you doing here? (Jeremiah 11:15) “What My beloved to do in My house”

Abraham the oldest stood first and said before the creator of the world: “You know that I walked on your path of truth. You tested me ten times and I passed all of them. Where are my sons? I couldn’t hear the sound of their words in the land that you sworn to me to keep them in it.

The Holy one Bless be He said: “Abraham, beloved of my soul, (Jeremiah 11:15) “Can their vows and sacrifices prevent their destruction?”. They ignored the Holy covenant and turned to idol worshiping. For that reason my anger grew on them. Because of you I waited for them several times but they didn’t repent.

When Abraham heard these words from God he said:”with the power of your holy name, let their sins be cleansed among the nations until the time you wish to bring them back to you”. The rest of the fathers followed Abraham and they left.”

Only Rachel stayed there and raised her voice with great bitter cries. The Holy one asked her: “Rachel, what are you crying about?”

She answered him: “Why shouldn’t I cry?! Where are my sons, and what was their sins?”. God answered: “They brought troubles (צרה also means the second wife, Lea) into my house, she replied immediately: “Didnt I do more when I allowed the second wife (Lea) to come into my house (of Jacob)”.

We studied that when Jacob said (Genesis 29:12) “And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s brother” he was asking her to marry him. She said “yes, but I have an older sister and I fear that my father (Lavan) who is a cheater”. Then Jacob said immediately that he is her father’s brother in deception and gave her signs to recognize each other. Since her sister, Lea, was ready for marriage, Rachel didn’t what her to experience shame when her younger sister got married before her so she went and gave her the signs agreed with Jacob.

That is why she told God “didnt I do more when I allowed a second wife to come into my house” and you that it is written that you are compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, You should have passed on their sins.

Rachel did a great sacrifice because as the first wife, Lea, received a higher level and she brought the aspect of Binah in the Marriage to Jacob, who is the chariot for the central column and Rachel, the second, brought the aspect of Malchut . She was barren for many years and made more sacrifices so Jacob could have children from Lea’s side.

She didn’t take comfort in anything God told her. As it is written (Jeremiah 31:14) “This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because he is no more.”. Why is she refusing to be comforted? The Zohar explains that it is because “he is no more”, meaning that God is no longer among them as he went back up.

Since he is not with her children, she won’t accept comfort, until he swore to her (Jeremiah 31:15) “This is what the LORD says: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the LORD. “They will return from the land of the enemy”.

The same way Rachel did, so did the Shechina as it said קול ברמה נשמע , the voice was heard in the highest level of heavens. The Shechina was crying for her children. When she was crying sixty thousand camps of angels awakened to her, weeping.

Sixty represents the six Sefirot of Zeir Anpin that connects Malchut, that is the lower Shechina with Binah, that is the upper Shechina. This means that all the levels feel the lack of the Light and desire its full presence.

At that time a voice was heard in the top level of heavens, called Aravot, and two hundred thousand worlds that were concealed from the day of Creation, shook. Then the voice that was sound on the highest level was the heaven that is like (Ezekiel 1:22) “the terrible ice” that is above the Holy creatures of the Holy Throne. Then the mother was revealed to her daughter and told her “Restrain your voice from weeping” and went away with all her people to the exile. They spread into different directions so everyone will experience the exile. And she sat (Lamentation 1:1) solitaire.